THE CLOSE

‎"In order to achieve a goal, you must have a goal."--Roy Lantz

"Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it, for that determines our success, or failure."--Norman Vincent Peale

"The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain."
--Dolly Parton

"Self pity is a pathetic, woeful condition."--Roy Lantz

"Success is to wake up eager, and excited, about life."--Bradford Myers

"Yes, I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
You'd know what a drag it is
To see you"

--Bob Dylan

"Lord knows I paid some dues gettin' through."--Bob Dylan


So far, I am good at talking to the very few people who answer the phone. When I say that I have called to tell them about the upcoming season at The Opera they listen attentively to what I have to say, but when I am done saying it, they start to, immediately, offer reasons for why they can't buy, even before I have offered them the opportunity to acquire some fine seats.

With time, I will learn how to handle these objections, and turn their no's into yes's. My boss said not to beat up on myself, to give it a week to learn the pitch. I am the master of instant gratification, and I want to see my name at the top of "the board," NOW! I have learned, with age, to be patient however, and to trust that others, in this case, my boss, know more than I do. I will have to wait. The waiting is the hardest part.

I am doing Yoga to The Impotent Sea Snakes, this morning; preparing to take the dogs for a medium long walk. I have been studying for work in the morning, and then I am tired from work when I get home at night, so the dogs have not been getting the lengthy walks that I like to give them, and that they like to take. Shame on me having to pay bills.

It is the darndest thing: when I do Yoga at home, both of my cats, and both of my dogs, gather together, and watch me.

Two weeks ago, I got groceries from two different churches. Today, I have the day marked on the calendar when I will get my first pay check from my new job. I really think that prayer had something to do with my transition from having to have my hand out to having a hand in buying my own meals. I did not say, "God, hook me up with a job," but I did say, over and over, "God, thy will be done not mine, thy will be done not mine," and I think that His will was for me to have this job at The Opera.

I can hear you cynics, now, you atheists, those of you who don't have faith in faith laughing at me, pointing a condescending finger. Well, point away. My faith gives me strength.

I'm tired from a long bike ride, this morning, from Midtown to Little Five Points(long for me), and from helping to redistribute food that would have been thrown out. I really don't want to get in the shower, I want to get in the bed, and take a nap, but I can't. Well, I can but then I might not have this job that I like, a job that I am finding challenging, and frustrating at the same time, my jog as a phone salesperson for The Opera. I want to jump right up on the board, have my name hollered out because I made a sale, but it's just not happening yet. Don't quit before the miracle, I keep telling myself.

I have been loading up on carbs, over the past few days, because I have them. Sometimes poverty will dictate not eating healthy. I have been riding my bike 40 minutes a day, to and from work, and I am sure that this has helped combat the evil that the carbs have worked on me.

Boss: They won't buy if you mispronounce the words. Coworker who is the leading sales person in the office: I used to mispronounce the words all the time. It is a learning process. The main thing is not to quit, said the leading sales person. I don't see myself quitting. I want to learn how to sell on the phone. I want to be great at selling on the phone. I'm tired of being a starving poet. I need to have a marketable skill that will make me money until I hit the big time in The Literary World.

I am riding my bike to and from work. It is a twenty minute ride each way. I enjoy the ride, and I figure that I am burning calories, and losing pounds in the process. It is a win, win situation to have a job that you like and to be getting exercise to boot in the process.

Often when I reach a male voice on a voice male, the "Hello," sound much like the voice on the old t.v.show Mr. Ed, and I will laugh to myself, and say, "Hello, my name is Mr. Ed. Mostly, I am only getting one or two people an hour to actually answer the telephone, so I have to keep myself entertained, and in a positive mood, and this is one of the ways that I do it: chuckling to myself over different things that occur on the job.

It is interesting to see sales people argue with the boss when he points out something that they should, or shouldn't, be doing. I heard someone say today, "Well, that is what I did, yesterday." Of course, I'm a bit of a know it all myself, but I am really trying to bite my tongue on this job. I know for sure that my boss knows way more about selling on the phone than I do, and I am here to learn from him.

"Thank you for your call," one voice mail said, and I muttered, "You are welcome," as I hung up the phone.

I just handled a lady's, "I don't have any money," objection by telling her that she could get tickets to all three operas for as low as $75 a ticket. She still said no. I hear others in the office making sales, and I want in; I want to get on the board.

Ms. So and So just hung up on me.

The name listed on the computer was Susie Makepeace, and I thought that weird, and interesting. My co-worker said that it is probably a business. The number was disconnected: no more making peace.

Mr. Doe was, "NOT interested. Thank you." CLICK.

I showed my boss my, "Peace, Love, and Coffee," cup that I had brought into the office. He said nothing about "Peace, Love, and Coffee," just "WOW, that is a LARGE cup, you must be an addict.

Earlier in the week I had brought a toothbrush into the office, and had put it in with the pens in a tin can that I have on my desk. My boss reacted with a, "Wow, a tooth brush. Are you making sure that your breath is fresh for your customers?" I could tell that he wasn't all that thrilled about my having a toothbrush on my desk, so I took it off my desk and brought it home. It is possible to get a little bit too homey on your desk in the work space.

This job makes me sweat; not the full on sweat of, say, a workout, or a long bicycle ride, but a subtle sweat taht you are almost not aware exists. I wipe my brow not frequently, but I wipe it.

Sometimes, by accident, I say, "This is Mikel with the Atlanta Ballet," and not The Opera. This is rather embarrassing.

I just spoke to a young lady whose last name was Boring.

I was thinking tonight about how Tony Robbins would handle this. I mean there is nothing that can be done about so many people not picking up the telephone. You can't deliver a pitch, you can't handle any objections if there is no one to speak to.

Disappointment can set in rapidly, and rather easily. After my boss's critique of a conversation that I had that resulted in no sale, I felt rather down, and out, though I fully realize that the critique was in my best interest. Until I have made a sale, I really don't know if I can do this.

My boss said that I was too flippant, that people would have fun listening to me, but that they wouldn't get serious and buy. The Assistant Boss said that I sound like I am reading from a script, which I am.

I've got to stop eating things that get caught in my teeth, like celery.

I just phone The Partridges. Ha, ha...The Partridge Family.

I bet that I am getting bottom of the barrel leads. Why would they give a rookie the sweet leads to practice on?

I'd like to thank Jack at the bank, who was nice enough to let me struggle through the whole pitch, almost. Jack said that he wanted to look at the websites, and that I could call him back in a week. When you are learning something, such as a pitch, it is nice to find people who are patient with you, and will allow you to grow on their time clock.

I remember back when I was a sophomore in college for the fist time: a man ordered a bottle of wine from me, and I had never opened a bottle of wine before in my life. I dropped the cork in the bottle. The guy got a bit angry, more sarcastic really and said, "Look, if you can't handle the heat, get out of the kitchen," and asked that the manager be brought to the table. The manager was not a dick, so I didn't get in any trouble, and I went on the be a champion wine bottle opener as my waiter career expanded, as I will be a champion phone sales person with time.

Ms. So and So just said, "I'm sorry. Bad timing. Got to go." CLICK.

There is a lot of CLICKING going on in my ear tonight; folks picking up their phone, and then hanging it up right away, among various other CLICK methods.

Mrs. Stankus: didn't answer, but I thought that her name was interesting to say the least, and that she must have had to listen to a lot of fart jokes about her name as a kid, and beyond.

Mrs. Simpson in a new twist on this business says, "How are you tonight, sir?" and then goes CLICK!

A woman driving in her car let me give her the whole pitch, but when I was done said, in so many words, "No thanks," and I still don't know how to handle the objection, "No thanks!" I am finding that women who are driving are apt to let me talk to them longer than most women at home do so far.

I always thought that women in Muslim headgear were quiet, and or angry, but there is this wonderfully vibrant woman in our office who has changed my mind about all that.

I started singing the theme song from the old, old t.v. show, "My Mother The Car," as I sat at my desk moments ago. Funny where your mind goes when you are on the phone, dialing, dialing, waiting to make a sale.

Coming back from the bathroom, I remember making prank phone calls as a kid. Asking a person who worked at the drugstore if they had Sir Walter Raleigh in a can is about the only prank call script that I can remember. If they said yes, I would reply, "Well, you better let him out, he is having trouble breathing!"

I also once convinced this guy, who was the brother of a girl who had, recently, dropped me, that he had just won a radio station contest by answering the five questions that I had just asked him correctly. His prize was a brand new refrigerator, and it would be there in three weeks.

After three weeks I called him back and asked him if he had gotten his refrigerator, and he hung up the phone on me!


I just sang along to, "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart," to the dogs. It is amazing the lyrics to songs that you learn along the way on this path called Life.

NOW, though, I must quit singing to the dogs, and start studying my work things: The Pitch, and The Close!

My neighbor, the one who have been referring to as The Good Neighbor sent me an insulting email about hummus. What a piece of shit.

A lady named Ms. Lippitt made me t hink of Don Knotts and his movie, "The Incredible Mr. Limpet. I miss Don. He gave me hours, and hours, of entertainment, both in movies, and in the tv show, "Andy Griffith."

A lady just said that she thought that I said that my name was, "Mikel Opera." She was in her car, and on her way to Jacksonville, Florida. I don't think that she understood what I meant when I said, "Lynard Skynyrd?"

When I first got this job, I was buying things in my mind: a new bicycle helmet, a new computer monitor, new underwear; because I was sure that I was going to be a hit right of the bat at selling opera on the phone. As I sit here dialing leads with hardly anyone answering the phone, and those that do either clicking the phone in my ear, or having objections that I have been unable to overcome, I see that I will not be able to get a new front tire, and brake pads for my bicycle as fast as I thought that I would be able to. My first sale must just be around the corner.

I thought that working the phone in a room where other people were working their phones would be traumatizing. My co-worker just left the room to smoke; it is silent in here, almost lonely; funny what you get used to.

I'm not as scared of names that I can't pronounce as I was when I started. I figure out how I think the name is pronounced, and go for it.

"My wife takes care of the schedule." CLICK.

"I'm leaving the country for several months." CLICK
Have a nice trip.

The page on the computer monitor said, "Richard Doctor." Is his last name Doctor, or Is he a Doctor. He didn't answer, so I didn't get to find out.

"...but thanks for calling us," is a nice thing to hear, except for the "but."

I want to start fishing for compliments from the boss, but I know that that is stupid without having made a sale.

-----------------------------

This woman just told me that her brother would NEVER go to the opera with their dad, when she could not attend with him, and so she would not be needing season tickets. I think it sad that a man is so set in his ways that he can't do something that might make his father happy.

"Oops, Oh my God...this is the fifth time you all have called me." CLICK Then, I accidentally sent her page back into the computer without taking her off the list. OOPS

The world is going to end on Saturday, or something like that according to The Mayan Calendar. I bet a lot of people are freaked out about this. I just wish that I hadn't paid my bills; I could have used the extra cash before ascending into Heaven.

I just got two pick up the phones, and CLICK, in a row. People are just not in the mood to talk to me, tonight.

I just called Mrs. Spencer, and I couldn't help but wonder if she was a spinster.

Yoga, last night, was very difficult. I had a twenty minute bike ride to and from work, and put in three hours on the phone, immediately before hitting the Yoga mat. This, plus a quick argument with the neighbors, about some hummus that I allegedly took from them without following proper protocol, proved to be too much to let me have a good Yoga session.

At one point my instructor even said, kind of jokingly, "Do I have to think for both of us?" I was exhausted. I was in a zombie-like state, tinged with touches of anger. I could not concentrate on the work at hand. It was a terrible session, and I was elated when it was over. I am thinking of moving back to a Level 1 class, because this Level 1-2 is is full of asanas that are mostly unattainable for me. Who cares what level you are in?

I made my first sale last night.

It took me nine nights on the phone, and close to 36 hours to do this. As it was happening, it seemed easy; but Lord know that I put in a lot of effort to get to this point. Everybody clapped, and hollered for me, and then the boss said, "That's great, now get on to the next one!!"

I was a journalist for awhile, but was a practicing alcoholic at the same time so I don't remember large chunks of that time period.

5.19.11

I just talked to an answering machine. Some machines are so good that they make you think that you are talking to a human. I can't sell opera tickets to a machine.

It has got to be harder to bum a cigarette now than it was back in the day when I was bumming them. A pack of cigarettes costs from four, or five bucks, to seven, or so, these days, and I remember them being like two bucks back when I smoked. I quit about fifteen years ago, now. I don't miss that pack a day habit.

I remember being in jail in Atlanta for one of the first times that I was there, and the African American inmates would holler out, after scrumptious jail meal, "Got a biscuit for a roll up." "Got a vegetable for a roll up."

A lady on the phone just told my co-worker that it was, "None of his business, and complicated," when he asked why she wasn't interested in the opera; handling her objection, and this was just when I had thought that I had just about heard it all.

There is always coffee on the job; a delicious Italian coffee, that the boss man buys, and the assistant boss man brews to perfection. I have been thinking, recently, that I am more stressed out, as I adjust to this job being in my life, but it could just be because of the additional coffee that I am drinking!

I overcome my fears with every phone call that I make, especially to the ones that I don't want to make: some names I can't pronounce, some names scare me for one reason or another.

Blewett is the name of the last name that I dialed. I bet this guy had a hard time as a kid. Boy, you really blew it, Blewett.

‎"Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever."
--Lance Armstrong